


Make Your Path

by Kinni



Series: V3 Ultimate Shipping: All the Pairings! [5]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Bullying, Childhood Friends, F/M, Hope's Peak, Meeting Again, implications of abuse, rarepairs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 08:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15747636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinni/pseuds/Kinni
Summary: Different from the other kids, Kaito decided to make friends with the "weird girl". Little did he know, his friendship would significantly affect her future.





	Make Your Path

Ever since childhood, Kaito had always been a lively boy who loved to make friends. So it wasn't a surprise that he would approach the little blonde girl at the edge of the street and ask her to join in.

It was however, a surprise for her. The girl's name was Miu Iruma, and she was ten years old, the same age as Kaito. It was the first time she had ever been invited to anything of the sort.

The other children he was playing with were also surprised by his actions.

“But, Kaito. That's Miu.” One of the boys spoke.

“So her name is Miu? What's the problem with calling her to play?” Kaito asked.

There were a few moments of hesitation before the boy answered with “She's weird. And her mother is even weirder.”

Upon hearing that, Miu looked down into the asphalt, not wanting to meet the eyes of the other kids.

Kaito noticed that, and his response to that statement was “Well, I don't see any reason to not play with her. She's a kid just like us. And besides, where's your sense of adventure? You're sure you don't want to get along with someone new? Are you scared?” He finished by teasing.

The boy didn't really seem to want to go along with that, but neither did he have any way of countering Kaito's argument. A few other kids piped up with objections of their own (most of them girls) but Kaito slowly managed to convince most of the other kids to give a chance to Miu (two of the girls actually left, deciding to return home instead).

By the end of it, Miu was tearing up slightly, and when Kaito told her to join the circle, the girl looked up with a smile.

+0+

Over the next few weeks, Kaito learned little by little about Miu and what was the reason for the other kids to be wary of her. Apparently their parents frequently complained about Miu's mother, saying that someone like her should not be allowed to live in a respectable neighborhood like theirs.

It was all very ambiguous and confusing, with none of the children appearing to have any idea what exactly it was about Miu's mother that earned her that judgment. At the most, their interactions with her seemed awkward, which made them label her as “weird”.

Kaito eventually ended up speaking with his grandparents about it, and they told him that Miu's mother's profession was seen badly by a lot of people.

In the end, all that only made Kaito more determined to help Miu. After all, having people think badly of you because of things that are not your fault simply wasn't fair. He also did his best to try and get the other children to involve themselves more with Miu, but the parents had apparently heard about it, because many of them received specific instructions to stay away from Miu.

That often lead to Kaito and Miu being relegated to playing only with each other, which resulted in him learning ever more about her.

In Kaito's eyes, Miu was a person that only got more interesting with time. Initially shy and withdrawn, she had gotten to the point of talking with him normally, and she was very clever, loving to make complex wordplays and puns. She also helped him quite a lot when the summer vacation was ending and he had to rush to complete his school assignments.

When the school came back, the two kept in contact despite going to different schools, and apparently being around kids that didn't know her mother's reputation made it easier to make friends, which made Kaito glad.

However, at a certain point, things started to deteriorate.

+0+

“Miu, is something wrong?” He asked one day when they met after class.

There wasn't really much of a reason for him to have asked the question. It just felt like Miu wasn't acting quite right that day.

“Ah...” She dropped her head “Well, hmmm... You know...” She shook her lead and looked back at him “It's just that mother got a boyfriend, and things have been a bit weird at home.”

Kaito had been raised by his grandparents, so he couldn't really understand what she meant. Still, he tried to be supportive.

“I hope that things get better soon, then.”

+0+

However, that didn't happen, and in fact it was the opposite. It went on slowly, little by little, but Miu started to return to her withdrawn personality. She spoke less and less, and seemed to want to avoid him, frequently giving excuses for not being able to meet up.

More than once he tried to get her to talk to him about what was wrong, but she refused every time, once getting to the point of running from him. And all that came to a head when she stopped answering his calls, as well as showing up in the places she used to frequent. He was barely managing to get a glance of her.

He didn't understand what happened, but he began to wish that he had been more forceful before. Regardless, Kaito decided that he would find a way to get a serious conversation with Miu, and get to the bottom of everything.

With newfound confidence, Kaito started to investigate around, changing his daily schedule to get better chances of catching Miu. He talked with neighbors and also spent quite a long time keeping watch of certain places.

+0+

It took almost two weeks, but Kaito was successful. Surprising Miu while she was downtown, he caused her to run, but there was no place to hide nearby. Kaito pursued her for over five minutes before Miu slowed down and kneed on the ground.

“Miu, can we talk now?” Kaito asked softly.

She started sobbing, and raised her face to look at him.

“Why...? Why are you here? I didn't want you to... see me like this.” She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.

“Isn't it obvious? I'm here because you are my friend, Miu.” Kaito's voice trembled, but he didn't care “Please... Please, talk to me... I want to help you...”

“Kaito... Kaito... I don't want you to hate me. Please...” Miu pleaded weakly.

“I could never hate you, Miu.” Kaito said, offering a hand to her, and hoping that his feelings would get through.

After a few moments, she took his hand and he helped her stand up. Miu then took a deep breath and started speaking.

“He... hurt me.”

+0+

It only took a few sentences for Kaito to decide that there was no way he would let Miu go back to her home. He brought her back to his own house, and pleaded with his grandparents to let her stay.

He didn't even need to do that, in the end. As soon as they heard about Miu's abuse, the two got really angry. Angrier than Kaito had ever seen them. His grandmother reassured Miu that no one was going to hurt her under their watch, while his grandfather walked to the phone and started making calls.

From there on, things started moving incredibly fast. A kind female police officer went to their home and talked privately with Miu for over two hours. Then a bunch of documents appeared on their home, which were signed by the adults to give them temporary rights of guardianship over Miu.

From Kaito and Miu's perspective, it all seemed like magic, but apparently the two grandparents had a lot of friends and connections accumulated over their lives, which helped make all of that possible.

They even got Miu to change schools, upon which Kaito got a new classmate.

Things weren't all rosy, however. Miu's mother appeared one night, completely drunk and had a shouting argument with the “child-stealers”. Miu frequently woke up from nightmares, and just from seeing her day to day, Kaito knew that it would take a while for her to get better.

Still, the girl smiled sometimes, usually due to something Kaito said, so he felt happy to be able to help Miu feel a little better.

However, one thing he hadn't counted on, was the level of influence he had over her. And one day, a seemingly casual conversation became a turning point.

+0+

It happened when Kaito was watching the stars one night, looking out from his window.

“Why do you this so much?” Miu asked, startling him a bit as he hadn't heard her come in.

“Ah-” He turned to look at her, recovering quickly “Because the stars are such an inspiration.” He said.

“Inspiration?” Miu asked.

“There are so many things out there that no one knows about, great mysteries hidden in the folds of space.” Kaito borrowed an expression from an old program he had watched “I want to one day travel through the galaxies, make my own path in this universe of ours.”

“Make your own path...” Miu muttered “But Kaito... Don't you know that astronauts need to get all sorts of diplomas and shit? Can you do it?” She teased him.

“Hey!” Kaito complained “Don't underestimate me! I'm going to become an astronaut somehow, I swear in the name of Kaito Momota!”

“I believe you.” Miu said honestly, which brought Kaito to a halt.

Unknowing to him. That was the moment where she had made her choice.

+0+

For Kaito, Miu's following actions were sudden and unexpected at the time, but in retrospect he could recognize the signs. She had dove into her studies with an unprecedented focus, she was often reading complicated books on math and mechanics, and she also spent an inordinate amount of time learning how to draw.

One day, she woke him up at four in the morning to give her goodbyes. Apparently she had been aiming to get a spot at a scientific training facility, an initiative created by a former Ultimate. It involved several complicated tests, as well as a demonstration of original ideas, and the complex drawings he had seen her making before had been projects she had envisioned.

Kaito congratulated her, even though he didn't quite know how to feel about discovering this development at such a time, but he asked why had she gotten the idea of doing that.

Her answer was “I wanted to make my own path as well. I wanted to do something I could be proud off. I wanted to become someone.”

Kaito nodded slowly, deeply affected by her words “In that case, I shall be looking forward to that. See you later.” He spoke.

Those were the last words the two exchanged for quite a while. After that, Miu gave him a hug and left.

+0+

It was only years later when they would meet again. In a twist of fate, both of them would end up receiving ultimate titles, and being chosen to attend Hope's Peak Academy as part of the same class.

As it perhaps should be expected, Kaito was the first to approach the other one:

“Ah, Miu! It's been such a long time.” He spoke after walking up to her.

“And yet it seems like you didn't change at all, Kaito. You just got taller.” She snarked with a smile.

Their conversation was then derailed by one of the other students asking about how they knew each other. Kaito didn't want to expose Miu's past, so she only mentioned that the two were childhood friends before Miu left to become an inventor, which led to people asking about how was life like in that special facility.

Kaito took the time to observe Miu, and was happy to see that she seemed to have healed a little bit from the traumas. She was still standoffish, and frequently spoke in a rude manner when it wasn't warranted, but Miu also didn't shy away from confrontation the way he remembered her doing in their childhood.

He wondered how she saw him.

+0+

As it turned out, despite their seemingly easy reunion, it took quite a while for the two to actually speak seriously with one another, instead of simply doing small talk. Even Kaito's own unabashed confidence seemed to fail him, as the thought of actually trying to reconnect with Miu kept him from moving. And it seemed like she was the same way.

Surprisingly enough, the person who actually gave the needed push for him to go for it was Shuuichi, the shy and soft-spoken guy he had made his sidekick.

“You really should go and talk to her, you know?” Shuuichi said.

“Who are you talking about?” Kaito asked, even though he was pretty sure already.

“I'm talking about Miu, of course.” Shuuichi pointed out “It's obvious that both of you want to talk to each other, but you're putting it off for some reason.”

“...Both of us?” Kaito asked, uncertain.

“So you mean you didn't notice?” Shuuichi was baffled “She keeps staring at you and muttering.”

Kaito really didn't know what to think about that. However, he felt that Shuuichi was right, and he should really get over himself and talk with Miu. On that same day, he made up his mind, walked to Miu's seat in the class and asked if she could wait a bit after classes to talk to him.

Thankfully enough, she agreed.

+0+

Eventually, the two were alone in the classroom. The awkwardness had transcended normal boundaries and become a thick mist that seemed to choke out any attempts at making conversation.

For some reason, Kaito had a feeling that he should say something really impactful and impressive, but eventually what ended up coming out was:

“Miu, what happened to us?” In an almost pleading tone of voice.

Hearing that, Miu snorted slightly before descending into full-blown laughter, in which she was soon joined by Rantaro.

That seemed to release the tension, and Miu then spoke in a light tone:

“I don't know. It's just been such a long time, and I was always looking forward to meeting you again...” She shut up in embarrassment.

“It's the same for me.” Kaito said “I kept hearing news about you, and I always asked myself what you would think about me once we met each other again.”

“Oh? What kind of news did you hear about me?” Miu asked with a smirk.

From there, the conversation flowed unimpeded. Miu spoke about her efforts to get her ideas off the ground, and Kaito spoke about the lengths to which he had to go in order to start on the path to becoming an astronaut.

However, eventually the conversation drifted into the topic they had been skirting around for such a long time. And it was Miu who actually brought it up.

“So, Kaito...” She spoke softly “Now that I did so many things... That I even managed to become an Ultimate... Do you think I can be proud now, despite everything I've been through?”

Kaito smiled at her and replied “I always thought you were really smart and cool, ever since we were kids. I knew you could do great things as long as you believed in yourself. So I think you're more than worth having pride.”

Hearing that, Miu smiled so joyfully that it made Kaito's heart jump. Then she took a step forward and leaned herself against him, which really didn't help matters any. Then she spoke without looking at him.

“Kaito... I like you a lot, you know... How do you feel about me?”

Instead of answering with words, Kaito wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

“I'm so glad...” She said, and then raised her head, inviting him closer.

He leaned down, and their lips met together in a kiss.

After that, they separated again, smiling to each other.

The paths they made had truly come together.

**Author's Note:**

> And here's the Kaito/Miu story that I've been struggling to write. Sometimes that just happens.
> 
> When I started writing this story, there was no serious Kaito/Miu content on this site. Since then, at least one other fanfic was written, but this is still a rarepair. However, I truly believe that those two could be a good matchup, even if they are usually overlooked.
> 
> I got some inspiration from Chilhood Friends by NovaBlaster, so shoutouts to that.
> 
> Next time, we will have Shuuichi/Ryoma. I'll see you there.


End file.
